Pindar and Anacreon/Anacreon/Ode 50

by Anacreon

ODE L.—ON BACCHUS.

See! the youthful god descends;
Bacchus, who the youth befriends,

Strings his nerves, strong toil to bear,
Courage gives to win the fair;
Graceful ease and skill bestows,
When the vigorous dancer glows.
In his hand behold he bears
An antidote for human cares;
Bless'd with which poor mortals gam
Pleasure's draught unmix'd with pain.
He preserves the future wine,
While the crimson clusters shine,
Ere the juice is taught to flow,
Sweet assuager of our wo.
Wine, the cure of every ill,^[1]
Proves the best physician still;
All its happy patients find
Health of body, ease of mind.
Sound in mind—in body sound,
While the rolling year goes round,
Till the grapes again appear,
Med'cine for another year.

1. A similar passage occurs in the Odyssey, book iv., in which the princess Helen is introduced mixing this sovereign cordial:
   

   "Meantime with genial joy to warm the soul,
   Bright Helen mix'd a mirth-inspiring bowl;
   Temper'd with drugs of sovereign use, t' assuage
   The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;
   To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
   And dry the tearful sluices of despair.
   Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind
   All sense of wo delivers to the wind."
   

   Fenton.